"O-ring" is a name commonly recognized as referring to molded elastomeric seals of circular cross-sections. O-rings are made to dimensional tolerances of plus or minus 0.002 inch and the parts that hold the O-ring to make the seal are similarly toleranced and designed to produce the proper compression. The survival of equipment costing $100,000 or more depends upon seals of this type. In applications of this type, each O-ring is individually inspected before being installed in order to eliminate O-rings having ay defects such as cuts, cracks, tears, flow marks, backrind, excessive trimming, flash, foreign material, mismatch, mold deposit indentations, non-fill, off-register, parting line indentations, and parting line projection.
At the present time for critical applications O-rings are manually and visually inspected under a magnifying glass. It is the purpose of this invention to provide automated inspection at a sufficiently rapid rate so that a single system can inspect in excess of 2,000,000 O-rings per year.